upon them: bowed down as they had been in shame at the evil reports they heard of him, they had known little ease of mind. Now again there was in their hearts, because of Ramlall's good qualities, and their faces were lighted up with joy. At one time all the men-servants and maid-servants of the house, getting only abuse or blows from Matilall, had been in terror of their lives: now, softened by Ramlall's gentle address and kind treatment, they paid all the greater attention to their work.
When Matilall and his companions, Haladhar and Gadadhar, saw this behaviour of Ramlall, they remarked to each other that the boy had gone silly,-- must be cracked,-- and said to the master of the house: "This brat should certainly be sent to a lunatic asylum: he is a mere child, yet his sole talk day and night is of virtue: it is disgusting to hear an old man's words in the mouth of a child." Others of Matilall's companions would occasionally say:-- "Mati Babu, you are in luck's way: things don't look promising for Ramlall: he will soon come to grief if he makes a parade of virtue like this: you will then get all the property, and there will be no obstacle to your complete enjoyment. Even if he does live, he will be little better than an idiot. But what can you expect? what says the proverb? 'As the teacher so the taught.' Could he find no other master in this wide world that he must get hold of some mantras from an Eastern Bengalee, and go wandering about parading his virtue before the world? If he does this much more, we will send him and his teacher about their business. The canting humbug! he goes about saying: 'Ah, how happy I should be if my elder brother were to give up the society of his evil companions!' 'Ah, if my elder brother were only to frequent the society of Barada Babu, what a good thing it should be!' Ha ha! Barada Babu indeed,-- the dismal
